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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

20 Minute Sermons?

For some time it has been argued that sermons should be no more than 20 minutes. The argument revolves around the observation that, in the age of the short sound bite or media grab, attention spans have become shorter. In addition, even though education and literacy levels are higher than ever before, the reality is that the average person does not follow an extended logical argument that people once did.

It may just be true that I have become lazy and don’t want to work hard to preach with this kind of limitation, but in more recent times I have found myself adopting the saying ‘Sermonettes produce Christianettes’ more and more.

If the making of disciple making disciples is a genuine aim, and one is serious about the transforming character of the Word of God, and on the assumption that preaching aims to explain the Word of God in the context of people’s lives, shouldn’t one seek to increase the time devoted to preaching each week? Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating this outside of reason, and it should be said that developing the short sermon discipline as you are learning to preach is a good thing. Read more